The U.S. Soccer Federation plans to move its headquarters to a training center that will be built in the Atlanta area, leaving behind its more than three-decade home in Chicago.
The country’s governing body for the sport announced the move Friday, saying Home Depot co-founder and local professional sports team owner Arthur Blank has contributed $50 million toward creating the country’s first national training center. Billionaire Blank owns Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
The organization's offices, now based in a tower on Chicago’s Wacker Drive, will be within the new facility, according to a statement.
U.S. Soccer is already evaluating potential sites in the Atlanta area, with plans to choose a location by January, the statement said.
Plans to relocate were announced just under a year after U.S. Soccer moved its headquarters into the 30-story office building at 303 E. Wacker Drive in Chicago. It moved from two historic mansions in the South Loop, which U.S. Soccer has since sold.
At the time it moved into the new 33,000-square-foot office in Chicago in October 2022, U.S. Soccer had 185 employees in the city, including U.S. men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter.
U.S. Soccer has been based in Chicago since moving there from Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1991.
The federation said the new facility in Atlanta will be part of a broader effort to drive the sport’s growth throughout the country.
“This National Training Center will accelerate the growth of soccer in this country and will represent a commitment to developing elite soccer players for decades to come,” U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone said in the statement. “Investing in youth and adult programs as well as our Extended National Teams reflects our commitment to ensuring that players of all ages and backgrounds can find a home and thrive in this sport. These investments are a signal to our players, coaches, referees, members and fans that the future of U.S. Soccer is bright.”
Regardless of where it has been headquartered, U.S. Soccer has never had a centralized location for all administrative and training functions in a single city.
The statement did not say when it expects to complete the new facility in Georgia, which could be utilized by all 27 of U.S. Soccer’s national teams, including the top men’s and women’s teams that compete in the World Cup. The new facility will be available to coaches, players and referees for training, development, recovery and performance analysis, according to the statement.
Youth tournaments, soccer community conferences and other gatherings also will be held at the new facility.
U.S. Soccer is the organization that oversees all levels of soccer in the country, as a member of the world governing body FIFA.
“America’s top athletes deserve the best when it comes to preparing them for competition on the global stage and I’m thrilled U.S. Soccer has chosen metro Atlanta as its new home,” Blank said in the statement. “Atlanta’s incredible passion for soccer, corporate community and unmatched infrastructure make this a natural home for the National Training Center and I’m very confident our community will help America’s finest soccer players compete on a global level like never before.”